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Chapter Text

Only a mere few minutes ago, the Teen Titans have awoken from their slumber of nightmares, only caused by the vicious Phobia. Reports of Gizmo and the rest of the H.I.V.E. robbing Jump City had already flown about, but little did they expect that the H.I.V.E.’s big plan to bully the city once again turned into a rusty battle wrecking the city.

Aqualad, Speedy, Más and Menos were knocked to the ground when a large, lumbering man made of rusty metals landed onto the ground, leaving a crater. He had an enormous mouth, crooked teeth and a beard made of iron coils. His fists were massive and his stomach was enormous yet buff. Before getting up from the crater, he took interest in eating some of the concrete and crunching it down with ease. He then picked up a knocked out Speedy and held him up high. “Puny Titans. I gave a varning to ze midget before… let’s see eef you can vithstand the wrath of Girder!”

Before the Russian-accented brute could tear him up, a green sphere of energy hit his face, causing him to stumble back and let go of his victim. When he was no longer blinded, he looked up to see the five Teen Titans that stood above him on the buildings: Robin, Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy.

“I can name a hundred things that can put up with your ignorance, Girder. One of them would be prison walls,” said Robin as he then prepared a set of birdarangs to use.

“Ah, ze little vons finally arrive to regain turf. A shame too, I vas about to grab membership… zen again, zey had zaid zere vould be perks vith taking Titans out!” Girder then performed a massive belly drum that sent shockwaves. The Titans managed to avoid them, and Raven and Beast Boy went to help Titans East as the others made battle with Girder. He managed to withstand the birdarangs and starbolts but Cyborg’s punches were enough to get him to lock into battle, as they shared jabs and uppercuts that left each other stunned for mere seconds.

“Dude, are you guys OK?! Iron Man here knocked you guys out good!” Beast Boy helped Aqualad up, who was heavily bruised and covered in dirt. “I should be fine. Mas and Menos can probably help as well. Not sure how Speedy’s feeling… and I don’t know where Bumblebee is.”

“Better figure that out fast, because it’s time to rumble!” Beast Boy then charged at Girder as a Triceratops, causing the lumbering adversary to be pushed back until he got a grip of the horns. He then carried the green Titan and threw him at his team, causing him to change back to normal. Soon enough though, Aqualad was pelting him with skilled kicks and punches before throwing fire hydrant water at him. Unfortunately, Girder drank most of it up, causing him to grow ever so slightly bigger.

“Delicious! Perhaps eet vill taste better with a side of fish!” He then charged at Aqualad and opened his mouth, causing the aquatic Titan to keep his mouth held or else Girder would chomp him off clean. While Girder was distracted, Mas and Menos managed to sneak onto his back and both grabbed his hair. “¡Más y Menos, sí podemos!” said the twins as they touched hands, giving their adversary a massive shock before he threw them off and into Aqualad. “You brats have intervened far enough! Time to make you suffer!”

He then slammed his fists into the ground, causing a streamlined quake to travel its way to the Titans, causing them to get hit. Raven was especially annoyed as she was busy healing Speedy’s injuries. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” Concrete and metal flew towards Girder violently as Raven spoke her spell, only for him to eat up whatever could fit in his large mouth. He soon retaliated with more shockwaves, causing the Titans to retreat behind walls.

“So, does anyone have any other options?” asked Raven, causing Robin to ponder a bit before coming up with a solution. “Kid Flash talked about fighting Girder before, and one time he managed to beat him through overloading his stomach… but it looks like his appetite has grown since then.” Before the team could lose hope, Starfire stepped forward and readied a starbolt with her hand. “Then perhaps the way to defeat him is to take out what he has devoured.” The Titans then reassured themselves and were prepared to strike.

“Titans, Go!” Robin shouted as he, Starfire and Cyborg charged. As Girder continued to throw rubble at the trio, Robin took it out with his birdarangs, and Starfire managed to get a super strong, clean punch right into his gut, causing him to spill out some of the stuff he ate. Before he could get up to strike again, Cyborg punched him across the face, knocking him out for good. Robin and Starfire, however, were left more shocked as one of the things that came out of Girder… was Bumblebee. Starfire was especially worried for her. “Friend Bumblebee! Are you alright?”

“Ugh… I think I’m fine… I don’t know… mind telling me what happened? Aside from getting eaten whole by a gluttonous moron and getting my hair all ruined?”

“I’ll tell ya what happened, we just kicked Girder’s butt!” Cyborg showed everyone the knocked out Girder, all cuffed up in metal bars and waiting to be taken by the Police. “Ugh… Girder don’t feel so good…”

“So who wants to celebrate? I got steak that needs to be cooked back at the Tower and we now have the city’s finest medical bay!”

“Sounds like a good way to spend our afternoon. Titans East is in!” Bumblebee reunited with the rest of her group and headed to the Tower with the rest of the Titans, ready to get healed up and feast on Cyborg’s masterful cooking skills.

Gizmo and Mammoth, two of the most infamous H.I.V.E. students, hid in their dark retreat. While Mammoth feasted on what was left in the fridge, Gizmo was rambling about his recent failures. “Stupid, pant-eating Girder! If it weren’t for his ego, we’d have the banks by now!”

“I dunno Gizmo, are you sure this is something worth getting worked up over?”

“The other three cludgeheads went somewhere that I don’t even know about, and some drool brain made of out-dated metals stole our victory! WHAT DO YOU THINK?!”

“I think you’re making me feel bad for my brother.” Suddenly, a ginger girl around Mammoth’s age with wavy hair and a yellow outfit with golden boots and gloves steps into the room, hugging her brother in question. “Mammoth, it’s been so long!”

“Shimmer! I’d thought I’d never see you again!” The hug Mammoth gave Shimmer was a surprisingly gentle one, and once he stopped Shimmer reassured his brother’s worries. “Figured I’d go after some of the bigger heroes along with the rest of the graduates. Sorry you got held back by Brother Blood, that guy’s a prick.”

“Yeah, I don’t think even the Brotherhood likes talking about him all that much.”

“Can’t blame them, I wouldn’t talk about the biggest nut in the asylum either… hey, speaking of which, I heard about your guys’ last big fight against the Titans. Managed to get in touch with the Brain after the big breakout, and he’s got a message for everyone…”

She then pulled out a tablet, which then started playing a recording of the one and only Brain in his chilling presence and robotic voice. “Hello, Brotherhood. The first failure we have truly shared has been a painful one… but perhaps mistakes shall be rectified once allegiances are rekindled…”

Chapter Text

The Titans spent their afternoon doing exactly what they were planning to do: eat whatever Cyborg cooked (with the exception of Beast Boy who took interest in his usual tofu meals) and heal up Titans East. Bumblebee got her hair sorted out and was making conversation with the rest of the Titans, with the exception of Robin and Speedy who were both in the medical bay.

“I should’ve said this earlier, but thanks for helping us stop Girder… and getting me out. You guys were completely gone for the past few days so we decided to take action.”

“You can blame Phobia for that! She managed to knock us out and give us nightmares for days on end. Wouldn’t have broken free if it weren’t for Silkie setting off the alarm.” Cyborg spoke as he was cleaning up dishes before Silkie jumped up onto the counter and rested. “So, how come Speedy’s back on the team? Did he come back full time or…”

“Let’s just say he’s been splitting a lot of duties as of late.” Aqualad downed another cup of water before the rest of the Titans looked over to the medical bay, slightly worried about the state of their fellow Titan in spite of Raven’s healing.

In the medical bay, Robin was listening to Speedy’s stories as a way to sorta help him become more comfortable after suffering from some injuries. “Then the arrow hit the tank right behind him, and then bam! All that stuff poured right over him, keeping him stuck for good. And that’s how I managed to take out Clock King.”

“That’s great, Speedy! Seriously, I’m glad you’ve been holding out well on your own.”

“It’s nothing… doesn’t really keep me from coming back to the Titans though, doesn’t it?” The crimson archer lost his smile for a bit, disappointed that his buried dependence on the team he worked with for so long was still active. And Robin was worried for him once again.

“I know you said you wanted to work alone more often, but there isn’t anything wrong with working with your team at all.”

“Well what if there is?! I know we learned from the Brain of all people that were more powerful together than alone, but that’s been going counter for me!” Speedy lost his temper for a brief moment before composing himself back to a calmer state. “I’m sorry for lashing out, it’s just… one day, I’m having the time of my life putting Clock King and his goons behind bars, maybe even having a few fights with Cheshire. The next day, I’m with Titans East going after the H.I.V.E. before getting ourselves chomped by Girder of all people.”

“And I know how that feels. We all have our good days, and we all have our bad days. But it’s up to us to make the most of each day. Whether I’m on my own or whether I’m with my team, I’ll kick butt no matter what. And I trust you can do the same.” Robin reached his hand out to Speedy as an offer to get up from his bed, which he gladly accepted with his healed right arm.

“Count on it.”

Robin and Speedy entered the main room where the rest of the Titans were waiting, with Speedy in particular using the opportunity to stretch out a bit. “So I’m guessing we’ll be heading back to Steel City now?”

“We’re gonna help clean up the mess Girder left across the city. Then we’re heading back to Steel City.” Just then, Bumblebee’s communicator was going off, along with the rest of Titans East as they flipped them open. “Dang it! Sorry guys, it’s gonna have to wait. Trouble in Steel City, and a lot of tornadoes are starting to pop up.”

“I don’t suppose that was part of the weather forecast at all… alright, you guys need to head back to Steel City. We can clean up the mess in the city. Shouldn’t be much to clean up anyways.”

“Thanks Robin. Alright, Titans East! Move out!” Bumblebee, Aqualad, Speedy, Más and Menos all left the tower and used their T-ship to fly back to Steel City, leaving Jump City’s superhero team to clean up the streets… which is what they would’ve started doing if it weren’t for the alarm already blaring throughout the tower, alerting them of a breach in their home.

“It better not be my workshop, it better not be my workshop…” Cyborg went straight to the monitor to see where the breach was and saw that it was, indeed, in his workshop. “It just had to be my workshop, didn’t it?”

“We shall investigate the problem at hand!” Starfire flew straight to the workshop, with the rest of the Titans following close behind.

Out of the vents came a massive blob of gooey, black tar that soon took a more solid, humanoid shape. His eyes were fiery red and orange, had three fingers for each massive hand, and he had no visible mouth to speak of. In spite of that, he spoke in a Boston accent as he admired the car present before him.

“Hehe, slickest blue plates in da entire world, tires of da finest rubbah, and all da junk in da trunk I need!” He opened the trunk using the key he found in one of the locked drawers that he tore open and quickly saw all the tools and oil stashed away in case the car ever broke down on the road. “Now, dis is a car worth using! Considah me sold!”

Before he could even get close to getting into the car, a blue laser beam hit him in the arm, causing tar to fall to the floor and his arm to regenerate itself. He looked where the blast came from, that being the five Titans standing right in front him and Cyborg pointing his laser cannon right at the fiery monstrosity. “My car isn’t for sale, so stay away from it or I’m selling your butt off to jail!”

“Oh ahm sorry, dis is your car? Last time I checked, dis doohickeh belonged to me!” He flinged his molten arm right at the Titans, melting the floor that was beneath them before they dodged and separated. Cyborg charged straight towards him, trying to punch him down but only managed to break off some of his tar skin.

“Y’know, bozo supaheroes like you call me Tar Pit for a reason.” Tar Pit cackled as his slimy mass started to grab onto Cyborg’s armor. When the mechanical Titan went in for a sucker punch at the stomach, Tar Pit made a noticeable flinch before hardening his skin, keeping Cyborg’s hand stuck in there. “So, Tin Kid, mind if I take da ride for myself now?”

“Very much so.” Ripping his hand out of the stomach, Cyborg fell back as Robin’s birdarangs hit Tar Pit’s head, causing him to fall back and for his face to distort for only brief moments. The blob got back up and flung his hands towards his athletic opponent, missing in the process. However, It wasn’t long before streams of water started attacking Tar Pit, said water came from Beast Boy’s snout while he was in Elephant form. The green Titan charged towards him as the water caused him to back away, only for both of them to get into a push fight.

During the fight, a black bubble of energy summoned by Raven surrounded Tar Pit, causing him to be contained and prevented from causing any more damage. “My magic should hold you long enough to stop your stupidity from causing a mess. Mind telling us what you want with the car?”

“Ey, I need a drive if I’m gonna do dis job right! And considerin’ it involves taking care of you crum nuts, I’m bettah off stealing.”

“Mind telling yes what this job is?”

“Very much so.” Using his powers to morph around and spike the bubble open, Tar Pit broke free, which put Raven off balance and caused her to fall to the ground. While Robin and Cyborg check in on her, Starfire and Beast Boy both charge towards Tar Pit. Enlarging both of his hands, he grabs both Titans with each hand, slamming their heads into each other before throwing them into the other three Titans as they were knocked out. He then grabs the keys, gets into the driver's seat of the car, and revs it up.

“Thanks for wasting my time!” shouts Tar Pit as he drives off with the car and out of the Tower, using his powers to break down any wall that stands in his way. The five Titans run outside as Tar Pit makes his getaway and drives into the city, with Cyborg clenching his fists as Beast Boy looks sorry.

“Dude… we gotta get your car back.”

“It isn’t my car anymore… this isn’t a matter of getting my car back, it’s making sure that pile of waste pays for the insurance now because he’s not getting away! And next time they try something like that, they’re not even gonna be getting the keys!”

“That’s more like it! We’ll race you guys to him!” Beast Boy turned into a Pterodactyl as he flew off to chase down Tar Pit, carrying Cyborg with him. Raven also flew to help with the chase, leaving Robin and Starfire.

“Go follow them, Star. I’ll get ready to help you guys out… and I’m calling Kid Flash for backup.”

“Are you sure that will be necessary, Robin?”

“He’s fought Tar Pit along with Girder before, he already has more experience with him then we do. And considering what Tar Pit said earlier… I have a gut feeling there’s more at play here than just street wrecking and car theft.”